Get out the popcorn and sit down for 20 minutes of pure CSC club surfing educational fun and humor. I have been experimenting with this voice over format, and both me and the mentees have been loving it. Most of the personal videos are privately linked on the Vimeo channel, but some days just flow in such a way that it makes sense to make one big edit rather than 4-6 personal ones. This way I can intersperse my own surfing and technique tips with those who are in training. MG has been joining us and she has been a great help both with the filming and with her graceful style in the water. She is helping out with filming in trade with help on advanced technique, especially on a shortboard in more powerful surf. As you can see, she’s pretty darn good on a longer board in small surf. We’re stoked to have her around.
MG style for miles down the line. Arms quiet and at the side. Stance narrow and in the center of the board for trim.
This video features students Nina Chavez, Bonnie Stamper, and Liz Golato, all of whom have been working with me for about a year. Nina and I have been working on correcting a bad pop up she had learned that we’ve dubbed “the broken lawn chair” because it involves an incorrect folding forward of her back leg. As with many tough issues in peoples’ surfing, Nina’s is exacerbated whenever she feels anxiety due to either fear or anticipation. My plan to resolve the issue has been to develop her take off and glide technique so that she feels more stable going down the line and thus is more confident about using her back foot to create space under her hips where she can then place her front foot and stand up in one stage. This is only one pop up technique, but I’m finding it’s the one that is most needed to get down for intentional surfing.
Nina likes to smile big when she pops up in one stage.
Some people with fast pop ups, like Liz in this vid, use the fast pop up as an excuse not to look at the wave or paddle hard enough into it. Liz and I have been squashing her paddling and take off confidence issues this spring, and as you can see and hear in the vid, she has realized that a strong paddle combined with looking down the line can get her into almost any wave. Liz is riding the CSC x Barahona shapes 8’6” x 23” x 3” pink stripe rendition of the “pink cloud” board, which is the best all around beginner board in the quiver, especially for the lighter surfer.
Liz cruising — could look at the wave a little more there Liz!
Bonnie Stamper is a “clean slater”. She took her very first surfing lesson with me on August 3, 2019. She and Liz had high hopes for the Costa Rica surf retreat this March, but then Covid hit so they applied their deposits to our NY surfing staycation. In the past month Bonnie has had the ultimate breakthrough in surfing: she knows what the wave looks like when she see the face as she enters the wave. She also has her very own 8’6” x 23” x 3” with her own custom color choice. Now she is moving on to learning pig dog — as you see in the first 90 seconds of the vid — and to turning the board from the tail to avoid the closeout.
Bonnie looks down the line!
Really stoked on the progress these women have made in their surfing in the past month. I also enjoy doing the voice overs and keeping the humor clean. It’s also important to include the other surfers in the lineup, just to get a feel for what one deals with on an average day in the Rockaways. I can see there may be an interpretation where I’m “making fun” of the other surfers in the water — and it wouldn’t be totally wrong — but it is in good spirit. There are lots of people out there attempting to ride 1ft mush balls on shortboards. Add to this the herd mentality of going for the same wave as everyone else and you have a perfect comedy of errors. At CSC we try to wait our turn and share waves as much as possible — there are plenty to go around. And furthermore, this video is public and contains some vital surf educational information available to all and sundry! I would say that the first two minutes where I demonstrate the pig dog take off technique are the most informative. The stuff I’m doing on the board on the beach is part the ‘surf salutation’ exercise that I teach in my virtual classes. This is a crucial technique that everyone who hopes to be a competent surfer must have in their arsenal!